MTV Movie Awards right Oscar wrongs (Leo's nominations)

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MTV Movie Awards right Oscar wrongs

By JIM SLOTEK

A "guys' weekend" excursion a few weeks back saw four of us married men crash in Boston at the home of a pal of ours, also married. His daughters agreed to sleep in the basement rec room, and lend their rooms to daddy's friends.

So it was that I woke up groggy and a bit hungover two days in a row in a 13-year-old girl's bedroom, with pictures of Leonardo DiCaprio staring at me from every corner of the room.

At first it was unnerving, but eventually I absorbed the vibe and found myself in perfect agreement with Dana's daughter Jahna (who'd seen Titanic a mere three times, and so only counts as a fair-weather fan). Denying Leo even an Oscar nomination for Titanic was, like, one of the greatest acts of total robbery in Hollywood since... well, since they denied it to him for Romeo And Juliet.

Fortunately, there's the MTV Movie Awards nominations -- which were announced this week -- to set things straight. There, Leo is God, with three major noms, including Best Actor, Best Screen Duo (with Kate Winslet) and Best Kiss (ditto).

Now it's come to my attention that many voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (average age 86) are under the mistaken impression that there's a Best Kiss category at the Oscars. Of course, many of them are also unsure what year it is -- which explains all those write-in votes for Vilma Banky and Rudy Valentino and for those kids Walter Matthau and Ann-Margret in Grumpy Old Men.

But I digress. The issue here is Leo, and the movie awards that truly has its hand on the pulse of the theatregoing public (average age, oh, let's say 17).

Consider Titanic, which once again has a shot at Best Picture. But it's up against a more formidable field of nominated films, including Face/Off, Men In Black and -- yeah, baby! -- Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery (starring last year's MTV Movie Awards host, Mike Myers). What MTV or MuchMusic viewer (they're carrying the awards here June 2) hasn't seen most if not all of those?

And what about those films the Oscar voters seemed to think were the cats pajamas? As Good As It Gets? Oh yeah, that's the one where the chick from Mad About You is, like, with that old guy from the '60s, and the guy from Talk Soup is, like, gay. Nah.

Ulee's Gold? Isn't that the one with Bridget Fonda's grandfather and all those bees, and he's with the mom from Home Improvement? Pass.

The Full Monty? Dude, if that was my dad up there looking nasty with his clothes off, I'd, like, run away and become a squeegee kid.

L.A. Confidential? Man, that Kim Basinger is still a babe. What was that movie about, anyway?

The Apostle? Look, bad enough my mom made me go to Easter mass...

The MTV Movie Awards do rectify, in their own goofy way, a longtime Oscar flaw -- the lack of respect given to funny guys. They hand out Best Comedic Actor (which is where Jim Carrey sits with Adam Sandler, Will Smith and Rupert Everett of My Best Friend's Wedding). Just so's no geek upstages Leo or Matt, y'unnerstand.

But like any other award, the MTV Movie Awards has its omissions. Where, for example, are the best picture nods for Scream 2 and I Know What You Did Last Summer? Shouldn't any film with Sarah Michelle Gellar (a.k.a. Buffy The Vampire Slayer) automatically score big? Neve Campbell was nominated for Scream 2, but Buffy was patronized with a "best breakthrough performance" nom for I Know What You Did.

Starship Troopers? In an awards show that has a Best Villain and Best Fight category, shouldn't there be a Best Group Shower Scene? Hello? Does the name Casper Van Dien mean nothing to you people?

Best breakup? Gotta be Good Will Hunting's Matt Damon breaking up with Minnie Driver (he dumped her on Oprah). Couple MTV viewers would most like to see break up? Claire Danes and that Aussie rocker Ben Lee.

Enough Already Award: Jim Carrey and Lauren Holly, they break up, they're back together, they break up, they're back together...

That's it from Hollywood, bruh. I gotta watch that Verve video for the 100th time where the guy walks down the street.

{-e-}

-- Dan Draghici (ddraghic@sprint.ca), April 19, 1998

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-- Thomas M. Terashima (titanicShack@yahoo.com), May 14, 1998.

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